Finding Christmas
by SiriusRemus Chick
Summary: Will be continued, possible SBRL in future. Remus never knew what a real Christmas was until his first Christmas at Hogwarts. R&R please. Disclaimer: Don't own. Nuff said.
1. Year One

Christmas . . .  
  
Wait.  
  
Christmas?  
  
Oh yeah. Christmas.  
  
Nothing to be too excited about, Remus thought miserably when he first woke up. Christmas was never really exciting anyway.  
  
And to make it worse, he was spending Christmas in a whole new environment with a whole lot of different people.  
  
He was in his first year at Hogwarts. And it was Christmas Day.  
  
Like before, nothing to be too excited about, although his friends were overexcited about it.  
  
Friends?  
  
Oh yeah. Them. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.  
  
And he was Remus Lupin, the boy who seemed to be in the middle of it all. Truthfully, he was sitting on the sidelines, watching from a distance.  
  
His friends. Were they really his friends? It appeared so. But was it a true friendship?  
  
And why was he questioning such a thing on Christmas Day? Wasn't Christmas supposed to be merry?  
  
Remus reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and changed. He saw that his dorm mates were still asleep. Shouldn't they be up by now? It must be very early in the morning, he thought. To confirm his beliefs, he looked out the window and saw a grey sky - the midnight blue only barely tainted by the rising sun.  
  
He shrugged and trudged down to the common room, giving the decorations, lights, presents, and Christmas tree barely a glance. Christmas - a secular holiday on December 25 when people traditionally exchange presents and greetings. He didn't care, though. He never really cared. Back home, Christmas wasn't enjoyable. He was always left out because of - well - his lycanthropy.  
  
His family was down right scared of him. He only remained in their custody because they feared he would run wild and kill everyone in sight and the blame would be on them. They knew what to do with him, at least. Lock him up on a full moon. Tend to his wounds the next day. That was all they needed to do. That was all they really cared to do.  
  
Typical response to a bloodthirsty monster, he supposed.  
  
He sat up on the windowsill, drawing his legs to his chest, and stared blankly out the glass. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window. He didn't notice the three pairs of eyes staring at him from behind. Until -  
  
"Happy Christmas, Remmie!" three voices shouted at once.  
  
Startled, Remus nearly tumbled from his perch on the sill, but managed to catch himself at the last minute. Eyes now wide-open, he turned his head to look at his friends.  
  
James, Peter, and Sirius were standing only four feet away, grinning as wide as a grin could get. Sirius tramped over to him and literally picked him up and took him over to the Christmas tree.  
  
Remus looked at them quizzically.  
  
Still grinning widely, they searched around the tree until finding three neatly wrapped presents.  
  
"For you," James said, setting his present in front of Remus.  
  
"M - me?!" Remus stammered in a small squeak.  
  
"Yes, you, silly." In an instant two other presents were before him.  
  
Sirius nudged him. "Well, go on. Open them!" he said encouragingly.  
  
Remus shook his head frantically. "B - but I didn't get you guys presents!" he admitted. "I don't deserve presents . . ."  
  
"It doesn't matter if you got us anything or not," Peter said softly. "Your friendship is enough for us."  
  
He felt tears burning his eyes. Friendship? Their friendship was real?!  
  
Yes. It was.  
  
It didn't take another second for those tears to spill over and Remus sat there weeping, clinging to his friends in happiness and relief.  
  
With his friends' arms around him, hugging him like a friend, embracing him like a brother, he knew that this would be his first real Christmas - the first real Christmas he would spend with his friends, the people who loved him. 


	2. Year Two

James and Peter were already in the common room. Sirius was still asleep in his bed, snoring slightly. And Remus . . . Remus was standing over the sleeping boy, going over the possible ideas to wake him up. No matter how many times he prodded or shook Sirius, he would just mumble some illogical phrase and roll over. The only thing Remus hadn't done yet was yell in his ear.  
  
And it seemed like that was what he would have to do next. Trying not to laugh, he leaned over the bed and lowered his lips to Sirius' ear.  
  
"WAKE UP, YOU LAZY GIT!! IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!" Remus shouted unceremoniously.  
  
Not a second later, Sirius bolted up to a sitting position with a yelp, eyes wide and a panicked expression on his face. He glanced around dumbly until his eyes found Remus, who was doubled over, laughing insanely. "Why you . . ." he grumbled moodily. In an instant, he had jumped out of his bed and moved toward Remus.  
  
Still laughing, Remus caught the devilish gleam in his friend's eyes and darted out the door, Sirius, who was still in his pajamas, right on his tail. He leaped down three stairs at a time in a mad rush while laughing and gasping for breath. When he made it to the bottom of the staircase, he ducked to the side, narrowly missing a grab from Sirius.  
  
Sirius was fast, though, and pivoted on his heel to find Remus again. In mock terror, Remus stumbled away. Then he noticed James. James was leaning his shoulder against the wall, talking casually to Peter about . . . well, who knows what. He hid behind him, hands clutching his shoulders to turn him as a shield.  
  
James brushed his hands off and chuckled. "You're on your own, Remmie. I'm in the middle of an important conversation with our dear Peter here."  
  
"Fine, be that way." Remus cuffed the back of James' head gently. Seeing that Sirius was nearly on him, he ran for an armchair, hiding behind it. In no time at all, Sirius was on the other side of the armchair, grabbing at Remus, although missing each time.  
  
They circled around the chair, Remus laughing and Sirius growling threats. Remus avoided each dive of Sirius' hands. He was now behind the chair again and grinned wolfishly at Sirius. "Face it, Seer, you can't catch me," he taunted playfully.  
  
"Just watch me . . ." He flashed a wicked grin and jumped on the chair, scrambling over the back and leaping at Remus. The chair tipped over backwards. And so did Remus, who didn't have enough time to escape.  
  
He was sprawled on the ground with Sirius sitting on top of him, straddling his sides and pinning down his arms. "Hah! Told you! Not so fast now, are you, wolf-boy."  
  
Remus grimaced at the nickname, although he was partially used to it. They had been calling him that for the past month or so, since they found out that he was a werewolf - strangely, they didn't abandon him for it, like most people would. They only meant it as a friendly joke, though, and Remus knew that, so he didn't take it personally. He managed a small laugh.  
  
"Okay, okay, I get the picture. You can get off of me now, Sirius."  
  
"No, you don't get the picture," he shot back sweetly. "I'll have to teach you a lesson for waking me up at this bloody early hour." With that, he began to tickle the young werewolf's sides, chuckling softly to himself.  
  
Remus broke into a yelp of helpless laughter and struggled against Sirius' strong grip. "STOP - STOP IT!! Ha, ha, ha, ha . . . Gasp . . . Ha, ha, ahh . . ." He wrenched an arm free and tried to twist over and scramble away, although to no avail. "Help! James, Peter! Ha, ha - HELP!"  
  
He couldn't say anything else, he was laughing too hard. Tears of mirth were streaming down his red cheeks. In between laughs, he was gasping for breath, "Ha, ha . . . Can't . . . Breathe . . . Ha, ha, ha . . . Air! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha . . ."  
  
James chuckled and walked over, Peter following suit. "Hey, Seer, I think Remus has had enough." He was confirmed when Remus' laughs started to mix with violent coughs.  
  
Noticing the coughs, as well, Sirius stopped tickling him and moved off of him to sit by his side. Remus quickly sat up and bent over, placing a hand over his mouth to stifle the coughs.  
  
Slowly, the coughs died down and Remus found himself breathless and gulped down mouthfuls of air. He gave a final cough and wiped the tears off his cheeks. James offered his hand and helped him up to his feet. A little shaky, Remus let out a deep breath and shuddered. "Are you okay, Remus?" James asked.  
  
"Y - yeah, I think." He gave a feeble chuckle.  
  
Sirius rose up next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, mate. I guess I got caught up in the moment," he said sheepishly.  
  
Remus gave a more convincing chuckle. "It's alright."  
  
"Hey, all in the holiday spirit, right?"  
  
The young werewolf blushed. "Oh, yeah. I, uh, kind of forgot that today was Christmas after all that . . ." He smiled with embarrassment.  
  
Peter finally piped up. "Speaking of Christmas, we still have presents to open!" he exclaimed eagerly. He jumped up and down a few times before loping over to the Christmas tree.  
  
They laughed softly and followed him, settling in a group on the floor. Remus grinned and pushed a present toward Sirius. "Open it. Just promise not to kill me."  
  
He gave him a suspicious look. "It must be something bad, then." He muttered softly about sweet revenge and slowly opened it.  
  
James burst out laughing. "Nice, Remus, very nice. 'Potions for Dummies.' That was a good idea."  
  
Sirius snorted and set the book to the side, shooting Remus a glare. Everyone knew that he wasn't very keen in Potions class. After a moment, he flung a present at Remus, who caught it neatly. "Your turn, git."  
  
"Alright." Remus ripped the wrapping paper off and gave a small growl. "Funny, Seer. A dog collar. Remind me to choke you with it one day."  
  
Sirius smirked. "I think it's very appropriate for you since you are a werewolf."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes and snorted. "Come on, let's finish opening these presents . . ." He shook his head and smiled slightly. "By the way, happy Christmas everyone."  
  
"Happy Christmas to you, too!" they said back in unison. 


	3. Year Three

Author's Note: Thanks to those who read and didn't review and to those who read and did review! And a small warning for this chapter: mild Sirius/Remus foolishness.  
  
A special thanks . . . Thank you, Squeaky (Tonks208), for helping me on this chapter when my brain stopped working . . . I know what you're thinking, Squeaky, so don't say it. I hope you like how it ends since I obviously didn't let you finish reading it beforehand. But, just so you know, this chapter is dedicated to you, despite the rather loud protests of my selfish muse. (Got a hammer, Squeaky? I need to kill off yet another muse . . . mine never seem to work for very long . . .)  
  
~*~*~  
  
The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Sirius stumbled in, holding his stomach as he howled with laughter. Remus' eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed, agitated by the sudden noise. He was sitting at a table by the fireplace, working intently on his homework.  
  
"Sirius, do you mind lowering the volume, say . . . a lot? I'm trying to finish this Potions assignment," Remus asked flatly, giving him a "no nonsense" tone.  
  
Sirius' laughs dwindled down to loud chuckles, which wasn't as bad as before. He plopped down in the chair next to Remus, grinning idiotically.  
  
Remus rolled his eyes, resting his cheek against his ink-smudged hand. "Okay, what did you do this time?" This made Sirius break out into another fit of laughter. Remus shot him a venomous glare. "Spit it out, Seer, I have homework I need to do and the racket you're making isn't helping one bit."  
  
"H - homework?!" Sirius spat out as he laughed. "But there's two more weeks of holiday vacation! Why do homework now?"  
  
He tapped his quill repeatedly against the table impatiently. "I was absent because of the full moon and I need to catch up. Unlike you, I'm not a procrastinator; I get my homework done as soon as possible."  
  
Sirius looked horrified. "But it's Christmas!! You're not supposed to do homework on Christmas!"  
  
"Got nothing else to do . . ." Remus muttered. "James is flirting with Evans, Peter is home with his family, and YOU . . . well, I don't really want to know what you're up to." Giving an indignant sniff, he returned to his homework.  
  
Frowning slightly, Sirius watched the quill dance across the parchment, forming neat curves and lines. He HAD to get Remus out of the common room somehow. It was Christmas day! Come on, you don't spend Christmas day locked up while doing homework . . . do you?  
  
Releasing a frustrated sigh, he quickly snatched the quill out of Remus' hand and threw it across the room. Remus gave him a surprised look, which turned into a glare not a moment later. "You git, I was writing!" he hissed.  
  
As he rose up, Sirius stopped him. "Really, Remus. Put the homework on hold for now. I've got an idea."  
  
Remus cocked an eyebrow. "Was that why you were laughing?  
  
"Yup." He caught Remus' reproachful gaze. "Oh, come on, it's a good idea! Prank!"  
  
Remus didn't look convinced.  
  
"Please, Remmie! Pleeeaase!!" He gave him his best puppy-eyes look. He took his hand in his, pouting. "Pleeeaase!!"  
  
Remus growled lowly, a look of complete disgust on his face, and ripped his hand from Sirius' grip. "No," he said bluntly. "Now leave me alone so I can finish my homework."  
  
Sirius glared at him. "I won't let you finish your homework if you won't listen to my idea," he retorted.  
  
"I'd like to see you try," Remus shot back bitterly. He retrieved his quill and started to work on his assignment again.  
  
Nostrils flaring, Sirius narrowed his eyes and promptly pushed himself down into Remus' lap. "You're not going to finish your homework until you listen to my idea," he hissed.  
  
"Gerrouf, Sirius!" Remus jabbed his side with his elbow in attempt to push him off.  
  
Sirius didn't budge. "Nope," he said shortly.  
  
"Sirius Black, I am warning you . . . Get off of me and I'll let you live one more day," he threatened.  
  
"Not a chance." He leaned his back against Remus' chest and stretched his legs out onto the table, crinkling the parchment that was Remus' Potions assignment. He relaxed his head against Remus' shoulder, snuggling closer to him, as if he was trying to get comfortable for a long rest, and crossed his arms loosely.  
  
Sirius smirked as Remus scowled. "Sirius Orion Black, get off of me!!" Remus yelled in his ear. Sirius didn't flinch and instead started to hum. "SIRIUS!!!"  
  
"Yessie?" Sirius chirped happily.  
  
"Do you MIND?! I want to finish my homework and you are REALLY making it hard for my to do so! And it's REALLY getting on my NERVES!"  
  
Sirius shrugged and continued to hum. Remus swore under his breath moodily, mentally plotting possible ways to kill his friend.  
  
"Sirius, I'm warning you . . ." Remus' voice trailed off as an idea popped into his mind. Not an idea that would be appreciated, but an idea nevertheless. It was his turn to smirk. "I'll give you ten seconds to move. If you don't, I'll hurt you and you will be scarred for life. Seriously."  
  
"Ten . . ." Sirius hummed louder. "Nine . . . Eight . . ."  
  
"Are you ringing in the New Year?" Sirius asked smugly.  
  
"Five . . . Four . . . Three . . ."  
  
Sirius grinned. "Two, one?" he offered.  
  
"Sirius? Look at me," Remus ordered.  
  
Confused, he turned his head and was met with a kiss pressed to his lips. "Holy shi-"  
  
Remus took advantage of Sirius' shock and shoved him off of his lap and to the ground, laughing triumphantly. "Thank you. Now, I have homework to do." He scooted closer to the table . . .  
  
Only to find that his homework had been torn apart when he had pushed Sirius off of him. His faced flushed and he banged a fist against the table top, causing the bottle of ink to spill. "Sirius . . ."  
  
Sirius moved his hand from his lips, still slightly shocked. " . . . Huh?"  
  
Remus sighed in defeat. "What's your idea for the prank?"  
  
The shock from the kiss immediately forgotten, he beamed and jumped up. "I'll tell you on our way to the kitchens!" Grabbing his hand, Sirius dragged Remus out the portrait hole.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Alright, explain this to me again. We fill snowballs with fudge syrup and throw them at James?"  
  
Sirius grinned widely. "Yup. And, hopefully, he'll still be trying to talk to Evans. Then we can embarrass him even more."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes. "Which means you want to pelt Evans with the fudge snowballs, too, right?"  
  
"You know me too well, Remmie."  
  
"Unfortunately," he muttered under his breath.  
  
After rummaging through cabinets, storage containers, and the like, they found several bottles of fudge syrup. Sirius cradled them in his arms, the smile on his face brightening, and commented, "The house elves probably won't mind if we borrow some of this. What do you think?"  
  
Remus chuckled softly as they left the kitchens. "I don't think they have a choice but to let you borrow it. Come on, we don't want to be spotted. Let's hurry up and get outside."  
  
They paced through the corridors quickly, laughing quietly to themselves as they guessed how James would react to the prank.  
  
It didn't take long for them to make it outside. Sitting down underneath a tree near the Forbidden Forest, they started molding snow into balls, magicking the fudge syrup into the core to complete the fudge snowballs.  
  
"Perfect for a messy snowball fight, eh, Remmie?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Won't be much of a fight. More like a surprise attack." Remus chuckled slightly as he charmed the snowballs so they wouldn't melt when they took them inside. "I think we're ready," he stated a moment later. "Let's go."  
  
They ran back into the building, Remus carrying six snowballs in his arms and Sirius racing ahead to find James. Luckily, there weren't many people venturing around in the hallways, which meant that the duo would probably finish through the plan unnoticed.  
  
"James is at the bottom of the staircase with Evans," Sirius reported as he jogged back over to Remus. "Looks like we'll be able to get them both after all." He grinned widely at his friend.  
  
Remus grinned back, hugging the snowballs to his chest. "Well, let's get going before we lose our chance." He broke into a brisk pace with Sirius, heading toward the staircase.  
  
As they came closer, their excitement grew and they had a hard time containing it. Sirius was shaking with quiet mirth and Remus couldn't help but to smile wolfishly. When James and the redhead by the name of Lily Evans came into view, they ducked behind a corner, watching in amusement.  
  
"Come on, just come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend trip? Just once? Please?" James was begging.  
  
Lily looked disgusted and dismissed him with the wave of a hand. However, as she turned to leave, James grabbed her hand.  
  
"Now," Sirius hissed.  
  
The fudge-filled snowballs flew through the air at them, hitting the two unexpected victims. That was met with a squeal from Lily and a yelp of surprise from James.  
  
Now James and Lily were covered in the white snow and sticky fudge syrup. James wheeled around, glaring at the two boys that just stepped out from their hiding place and into view. "Sirius! Remus! How DARE you!!" he yelled at them.  
  
Sirius and Remus put on identical grins of innocence and waved in unison. Those grins, however, were wiped off their faces as James pulled out his wand. They turned quickly and shot down the hallway like mad beasts with James following and shouting threats mixed with swear words. 


	4. Year Four

Author's Note: Thanks again to the readers and reviewers (SilverKnight7, Tonks208, LiteraryLuminary, Lunaris, Eizoku, Mavelus, and anyone I forgot to mention because I uploaded this before you reviewed or before I was notified that you reviewed)!  
  
You, too, Squeaky. You gave me some ideas for this chapter (like the last one) and I thank you for that (but the mistletoe idea was MINE!!). Oh yeah, you still need to let me borrow a hammer since you couldn't IM me it over AIM. My muse decided to hibernate and it isn't helping much.  
  
Kind of Remus angst-y. He's confused about his "feelings" (which have been developing since the beginning of their fourth year) for our dear Sirius, among other things that can't and won't mentioned in this chapter. Damn hormones and damn author. *winks*  
  
~*~*~  
  
"James! For Merlin's sake, stop chasing Evans around with that mistletoe!" Remus hollered over Lily's threatening screams and James' laughter. Remus sank back into the armchair, closing his eyes. "That's their SIXTH time around the common room . . ."  
  
Peter watched as James ran after Lily, waving a branch of mistletoe in front of him. "Do you think they'll ever get tired and give up?"  
  
"Nah," Sirius chirped, sitting next to the blazing fire. "James wouldn't stop until Evans gave up and Evans wouldn't stop until James stopped chasing her."  
  
The small blonde boy continued to watch the scene, however. "Why doesn't Evans just use her wand?" he asked.  
  
Sirius smirked, his azure eyes gleaming mischievously. " 'Cause Remmie and I snatched it when she wasn't paying attention."  
  
"Oh . . ."  
  
"Ninth time," Remus announced, voice filled with boredom. He frowned, becoming rather annoyed with James' display. "Can I have permission to throw something that's REALLY hard at James? Please?!?" he begged desperately.  
  
Sirius grinned. "What? Are you jealous that James has a girlfriend and you don't?" He asked slyly.  
  
Remus snorted. "That's you, Seer," he retorted, blushing slightly. "I'm not interested in girls . . ." He received a strange look from both Sirius and Peter and quickly added, "At this age." They seemed to accept that, to his relief.  
  
"This is getting old," he muttered darkly. Giving an agitated huff, he flopped down on the floor next to Sirius, winking at him, much to Sirius' confusion.  
  
He followed James' movements with his eyes, tapping his foot impatiently. Seven paces . . .  
  
Just after Lily passed by, Remus stuck his foot out. "Think fast, James," he said loudly, tripping him. James hit the floor with an "oof" and Remus grabbed the mistletoe from his hand as Sirius broke into laughter and Peter chuckled softly.  
  
James pushed himself up into a sitting position, glaring daggers at him. "Remus, couldn't you tell Evans and I were having the time of our lives?! This was the beginning of our loving relationship. And you ruined it!"  
  
Lily stalked over to them, fuming. Dragging James up to his feet, she slapped him hard across the face. "You have a lot to learn about women, Potter," she hissed. "Never, ever do that to me again."  
  
Sirius snickered and James gave him a lethal glare. "You couldn't have done any better, Sirius, so shut it." He turned to Remus, pointing a finger at him. "And you . . . I'll get my revenge later."  
  
"Yeah, right. I'd like to see you try," Remus challenged. He leaned back, spreading himself out on the floor and closed his eyes.  
  
James followed his example and lay down beside him, forgetting his supposed grudge. "What should we do next?" he asked.  
  
Peter climbed down from his perch on the sofa and joined them on the floor. "Snowball fight?" he proposed.  
  
"Too boring," Sirius said. "Besides, we've done that a million times."  
  
Remus twiddled his thumbs, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm bored."  
  
"Me too," James murmured.  
  
"Me three," Peter added.  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well . . ." he started.  
  
Remus got up, heading to the stairs. "I'm going to read for awhile," he said over his shoulder.  
  
James perked a little. "The book I gave you today?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"Yup." Remus trotted up the stairs, disappearing from view.  
  
James sat up, leaning closer to Sirius and Peter. "Should we prank him?"  
  
Sirius smiled innocently. "What have you got in mind, James?"  
  
The three gathered in a tight circle, talking in hushed voices.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Remus flipped through the book, not really bothering to read. It was simply an excuse to get away from everyone. His mind was slightly muddled and he couldn't think properly . . . Why?  
  
The full moon was two days away but he never became this . . . out of touch with reality before previous transformations. And he couldn't help but feel a little . . . a lot . . . depressed.  
  
And if he could think about something, it was . . . him . . .  
  
"This is confusing . . ." he muttered to himself, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. "What's wrong with me?" All he could conclude to was the transformations and hormones. He tossed the book onto the floor, a little too roughly, and fell back into his pillows. His eyes closed and he drifted off into oblivion.  
  
Moments later, James pushed the door open and skipped into the dormitory. "Hey, Remmie!" he exclaimed. Remus didn't move. He frowned slightly. "Remus, we need you to come down to the common room. Sirius hexed the Christmas tree ornaments to chase Evans around and we can't find the counter spell." There wasn't an answer.  
  
James went over to Remus' bed, giving his side a gentle poke. When he didn't respond, James turned back and left, going down the stairs. "Hey, um, guys? Forget the prank, I think something's wrong with Remus . . ."  
  
There were no enchanted ornaments chasing Lily Evans around. That was simply a way to drag Remus into their trap. And at this moment, that prank was set on hold.  
  
Sirius gave James a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I don't know . . . I guess I just have a bad feeling about it or something." Peter and Sirius joined him as they walked up the stairs. They entered into the dorm, finding Remus fast asleep on his bed.  
  
Peter wandered over to his bed, looking down at the sleeping boy. "He doesn't look like something's wrong with him," he commented. Sirius nodded in agreement.  
  
But it didn't take much to get their attention. Remus' lips twitched and his hands trembled slightly, eyebrows furrowing. He released a shuddering breath as a tear leaked from his closed eye, trailing down his cheek. The tear was followed by another tear, which was followed by another, and another, and so on.  
  
"R - Remus?" James asked apprehensively.  
  
Remus slowly opened his eyes and turned over onto his side so his back was facing them.  
  
"Remus, what's wrong?"  
  
The young werewolf curled into a fetal position, shivering. "I - I don't know," he answered honestly.  
  
There was a sudden tap and the four looked up. There was another tap and Peter finally pointed to the window. "An owl," he said. Sure enough, there was an owl, dusty grey, with a small envelope tied to one leg. He opened the window, letting the skittish owl dart in.  
  
Remus glanced at the owl that had perched on the footboard of his bed, pushing himself up on an elbow while wiping at his tears. "Hello, Dusk," he said weakly to the owl. "Letter from Mum and Dad?" he asked. The owl gave a hoot and snapped the string that kept the envelope tied to her leg. It landed softly on the bed. Remus managed a small smile. "Thanks." He ignored the perplexed looks from his friends.  
  
He expected to see the owl fly off but, instead, she stayed put. They must want a reply, he thought. He reached over and took the envelope and then settled back down in his pillows. He broke the seal and unfolded the letter, reading silently.  
  
Dear Remus,  
  
We've managed to get an appointment for you on the second of January. Please make arrangements to come home the morning of December 31. Write back and give us an update.  
  
Love,  
  
Mum.  
  
Remus snorted softly. "It's about time," he murmured. He reluctantly climbed out of bed and over to his trunk. He removed a piece of parchment and a quill, starting to scribble out a reply to the letter until he noticed the three pairs of eyes staring at him.  
  
"What's about time?" Sirius asked slowly.  
  
Remus shot them a glare. "Nothing," he snapped. "Now, I'd like to write this letter without everyone watching, so would you three please leave?"  
  
Silently, they retreated from the dorm, the looks on their face etched with worry and confusion. "Something's wrong . . ." Sirius whispered. James and Peter nodded. "This hasn't been a very happy Christmas for him."  
  
"But what can we do?" Peter asked sadly.  
  
James looked down. "I don't think we can do anything . . ." 


End file.
